Strait of Hormuz transit will take ‘weeks’ to resume, Mitsui OSK CEO tells FT
The agreement between US and Iran being finalised had not changed Jotaro Tamura’s view
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[LONDON] Shipowners will not resume transit through the Strait of Hormuz for weeks until they are confident that the US-Iran deal is “material”, the chief executive of Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday (Jun 16).
The Iran war that began on Feb 28 with US-Israeli strikes largely stopped shipping through the transit route for around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply, along with products such as aluminium and urea.
Mitsui OSK, one of Japan’s big three shipping firms has a fleet of more than 900 vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers and ferries.
“What will have to come in place is not just a simple agreement between the relevant countries, but it has to be material and translated into the real situations in the Strait of Hormuz, so that shipping lines can make themselves comfortable to go through,” Mitsui OSK’s Jotaro Tamura told FT before US President Donald Trump announced a deal to end the war in Iran.
“Given the experiences in the last couple of months, I think it’s reasonable to assume that it may take at least a couple of weeks or if not a month,” Tamura told the paper.
The agreement between Washington and Teheran being finalised had not changed Tamura’s view, the FT report said.
“We recognise that there are signs of movement toward a ceasefire. However, operations will not be resumed until safety has been sufficiently confirmed,” Mitsui OSK said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“The resumption of transit will require close coordination with the governments of the relevant countries, insurers, and other stakeholders,” the Japanese shipping giant added.
US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that ships loaded with oil are starting to move out of the strait, “going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally safe, secure, and pristine”. REUTERS
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